Audible Dune Novels & Stories

They ran up another large dune and whilst up there Marius spotted something not too far from where they were. "Over there! Quickly come on," he said and they slid down the side of the dune and continued running, in the direction of what he spotted. It was a large pile of boulders; like a mountain but with spaces everywhere. Marius looked back and over the dune they were just standing on the tentacles burst through and continued diving in and out of the sand towards them.

The sound echoes through the cavernous space, silencing the murmured conversations instantly. A figure stands in the doorway, backlit by morning sun that streams through like physical presence. For a heartbeat, everything is still. Then the air begins to move—currents stirring around us, carrying the scent of sage, sand, and something sharper, more metallic. A vortex of fine desert sand swirls into the hall, spiraling upward in defiance of gravity, sage smoke weaving through it in gray-white tendrils.

Dune’s lips quivered. Leo raised the gun slightly, pressing it against Dune’s toes. His finger pressed on the trigger and he fired a shot. “Holy shi—“ Dune screamed, bucking violently as he fell to the floor, clutching his left feet in his hand. “Good,” Leo said mockingly, his tone clinical. “That’s one. Let’s see how the other fares.” He fired another shot and Dune doubled over again, shrieking. “Ple…uhhh—please,” he whispered as tears rolled down his eyes.

The music was deafening, but in our little world, it felt like there was a barrier between us. I could hear every word he said. He leaned back against the bed behind us, turning his head. His voice was extremely hoarse: "Are you going to leave me again?" At that moment, the walls I had carefully built crumbled. He was Dylan, the only warmth in my bleak and hopeless life. He was my only hope when I fell into the depths of despair. All these years, just thinking his name made my heart ache with longing. I only wanted him to have a good life.

The temperature plunged instantly, the heat of the day replaced by an icy, piercing stillness. That was when the first Mirage hit. It wasn't a visual trick of light and heat. It was an Acoustic Mirage. The wind blowing over the crest of a massive dune suddenly shifted its pitch. The whistling sound of the sand transformed into a high-fidelity broadcast, echoing inside my skull with the force of a live studio feed.

The cold we had once cursed now felt like a lost dream. Then… the ground shifted. I felt it first. A low, pulsing vibration underfoot. The sand stirred. Grains slid like water around our boots. Pelin looked down. “Do you feel that?” she whispered. A rumble answered her. The dunes around us trembled as something massive was moving beneath the surface. And it was coming straight up toward us.

It was an audio file with a nonsensical filename: LS_HR_1201. I opened it. The first thing that flooded my earpiece was an incredibly fine, dense static. It sounded like cold wind sifting through thick leaves, like a storm lashing against a sealed window. But listening closer, it sounded more like someone trapped in an endless abyss, desperately trying to suppress their ragged breathing. That suffocating static lasted a full minute before Dorian's voice finally cut through. His tone had shed its usual mechanically amplified precision. It was lower, softer, like a man talking to himself in front of a dead, black screen.

The cold we had once cursed now felt like a lost dream. Then… the ground shifted. I felt it first. A low, pulsing vibration underfoot. The sand stirred. Grains slid like water around our boots. Pelin looked down. “Do you feel that?” she whispered. A rumble answered her. The dunes around us trembled as something massive was moving beneath the surface. And it was coming straight up toward us.

The three of them visibly relaxed and continued along the forest path, moving quicker as they could now simply follow Dune’s scent. The forest thinned, and Arla could see torches in the distance, the small flames coming from them providing the first bit of light she’d seen since they left the car. They reached a small circular clearing and saw Dune sitting on his haunches, keeping his distance from the four people in front of him.

Ten deaths, flaunted in my city, written like a challenge in red. I crouched low, pressing my palm to the stone, listening. The city thrummed with heartbeat and traffic, but beneath it I caught the echo I sought—a whisper of silence, the unnatural void that clung wherever Morien walked. My growl rumbled low, fury sharpening to purpose. He thought himself shadow, but I would drag him screaming into the sun.